How to Build an Elegant and Expensive-Looking Garden with a Limited Budget

Gardens can easily attract attention because they often sit in front of properties. This means they play a great role in boosting your home’s value as well as its appeal. Keeping your garden in top shape, however, requires time, effort and money. If you are on a tight budget, this can pose a big challenge.

Fortunately, you don’t always have to burn holes in your wallet just to build and maintain an expensive-looking garden. In case you are wondering how, these few tricks can give you a clearer idea.

Screening

If there is an area in your garden that requires extensive and expensive renovation, you can use screening as a temporary solution. Apart from that it hides the unpleasant areas of your garden, it also enhances privacy.

Screening doesn’t have to involve building additional fences and tall walls. In fact, plants can work just as great. Bamboo, for example, can add height and make you fee closer to nature. In case you are looking for planters and boxers, you can try boxwood. For additional height, try to choose containers that are tall and slender.

Build better storage

The more gardening tools you have, the messier your lawn looks. This is particularly true if you don’t have any decent storage built. Aside from being unattractive, such clutter can also render your garden looking cheap and neglected- even if you didn’t mean it that way.

Instead of keeping your tools just about every part of your garden, it’s a good idea to pick a dedicated space for them. There are tons of DIY storage you can do or, if budget permits, you can purchase one from your local shop. Just make sure that the storage you will be buying or building will make it easier for you to access your tools. You wouldn’t want a storage that’s really neat-looking but is a bit hard to get tools from.

Get synthetic grass

Getting an artificial lawn for your garden can take guts, especially if you’ve been used to natural grass for so long. You’ll have to deal with the installation costs and the side comments from your nosy neighbors.

Despite these adjustments, synthetic turf isn’t all that bad. In fact, it’s convenient, cost-efficient and friendly to the environment. It doesn’t require constant maintenance as well which means you can forget about mowing every weekend.

There are synthetic gardens perfect for urban areas so you won’t have to worry even if you live in the big cities. These gardens usually come drainage holes that can prevent water from accumulating in areas where it shouldn’t be. You also get to choose the shape and size of the blades so you can get natural looking grass for your garden all year.

Upcycle furniture

You don’t always have to spend a huge amount of cash just to make your garden look expensive. If you have old pieces of furniture, you can upcycle them to save money.

Old wooden table and chairs, for example, can be buffed, painted and polished to give them a new look and feel. You can even turn your kid’s old bicycle as a planter and place it near your garden’s entrance. You can also make a small pond using old tires. Broken benches can be turned into swings while your old drawers can be used to house your vegetable gardens.

The nice thing about upcycling is that there’s virtually no limit as to what you can create. You also have a lot of control in terms of design and color. You’ll be less likely to throw out valuable items, too.

How to Bring the Indoors to the Outdoors with a Garden Awning

Completing the Look of Your Landscaped Garden

Everybody wants to have a beautiful garden. Whether you are looking to spend the whole year round tending your plants, or if all you want out of it is a calm and relaxing space to sit outside in the summer, or just an open space where the children can run around your garden can be whatever you want it to be. Be it a canvas to work on or a space to do nothing, it’s all about you.

Gazebo replacement canopy brings new life to your canopy

Do you enjoy the peace and enjoyment that you get when you are under your gazebo? Being under your gazebo is a different feeling that lounging around your pool. You get a sense of peace. You can go to your gazebo, take a book and read. Before you know it you have been reading for several hours. Time just passes away. It’s so nice to get away from the hectic work day at your gazebo.

A gazebo is often thought of a place of retreat, relation and even beginnings. A gazebo can mean many things to people. What do you think of when you hear ‘gazebo’? You would be surprised to know that it means more than just a shelter from the elements of the weather.

A new beginning

A gazebo is often used for weddings Wedding is a new start and beginning of life for a couple. The gazebo is normally round and decorated with beautiful white flowers. The flowers represent purity and innocence. The couple can say their vows in this circular gazebo. A circular gazebo mean there is no end as it continues around and around. This gazebo represents a new beginning and life.
Meditation

A gazebo is used for mediation. When a gazebo is placed around the beauty of nature, then this makes an excellent place for those who mediate to do this in an area without distractions. It doesn’t have to be filled with a lot of furniture and objects. It just needs to be away from distractions. You can look out into the woods and let beauty of nature help you with mediation.
Bands

Bands use a gazebo to play in older towns. You can find a gazebo in the center of towns. The gazebo would be used for announcements, parties, celebration and for the band to play in. This was a tradition that many towns have passed down decade after decade.
Family gatherings

A family gathering is often down at the gazebo. You can enjoy a delightful dinner with the people you love. You are sheltered from the sun or rain. You are bringing the comfort from the indoors outdoors to your gazebo. Many gazebos are used for this purpose in the backyard or patio area.
Do you have a gazebo? If you do, then you know the covering lasts for years, but there comes a time when you have to think about a gazebo replacement canopy. The canopy just gets worn out and faded over years. No matter how often you clean it you still will have to replace it after years of use. The new canopy’s offers many options such as enclosure and lights. Whatever type of environment that you want to create with your gazebo you can do with your replacement canopy.
You can get a fantastic replacement at TheLAShop. The colors and styles are amazing. You know when the time is to replace your current canopy. Let your gazebo serve its purpose, but allow it to always look amazing.

Should Old Age Stop You From Enjoying Your Home?

Old age does not mean the end. Rather, it can mean that you now have time to do all those things you always wanted to. You have worked hard for years so now really is the best time to enjoy the home you have spent years making your own. So whether you intend to stay active or just relax, follow these ideas for a great retirement.

Enjoy long baths

Sometimes, bathing in old age can lose its appeal as relaxation is replaced by fear of slipping, particularly if you have suffered a stroke or a heart attack. You might be concerned about slipping when trying to get in the bath, or not being able to get out again. But with a bath for elderly people, you can once again enjoy a leisurely soak without fearing the worst.

Get a hobby

With retirement might well come much more spare time. You’ve worked hard all your life and now is the time to enjoy what you have earned. Whatever size or style of house you have, you can now fully enjoy it, and getting a hobby might help to do just that. Whether there’s something you’ve always wanted to do but never quite had the time or you want to test yourself in different ways, your home is the perfect environment to embark on a hobby. Be it writing short stories or still life painting, there are many things you can do in your own time and in the comfort of your own home.

DIY

DIY does not have to involve heavy work such as laying bricks or demolishing sheds. It can be a good thing to do now that you have more spare time. If you have had that new door sitting in the garage for some time or feel that the walls could do with a new coat of paint then these are things that are easily doable. Of course, you can always get help with bigger tasks if you still want to do them.

Gardening

Your retirement offers you the chance to really take care of your home. One way in particular of doing this is by keeping your garden in tip-top shape. Of course, you have to be aware of your limitations but it is fully possible to keep your garden looking great even if age is against you. Try to keep pots and plants at ground level to prevent you needing to work at different heights and invest in lightweight tools wherever possible.

www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/9952346/How-to-garden-into-old-age.html

What Makes A Great Garden Office

One home improvement many people forget to think about, is incorporating a garden office or studio into their garden. It will create a peaceful location to work in, or an ideal sanctuary to relax in. It will add value to your property and will be a great addition to your garden space. The people at Gembuild Garden Offices have sent us this Infographic. It is interesting to see that not all garden offices/rooms are built to such a high standard and can also cost just as much

5 Ways to an Easy Care Garden

Picture the perfect garden, and there’s a good chance it will involve a perfect lawn, tended flower beds and some interesting water features.  In reality though, most of us are grappling with a garden that looks more like a scene from a disaster movie. Although it’s unlikely that there really is a crashed plane in the flowerbeds, you can’t help thinking it’s doubtful you would have even noticed, so seldom do you manage to do any actual gardening.

So how can you create a perfect garden, with only the minimum of work?

Create a Central Feature

This can be anything that draws the eye to a focus point, and the rest of the garden can be planned around it. Try a raised flower bed built out of stone, and plant with easy care perennials such as  hostas, or peonies. These will flower every year with the minimum of maintenance. Alternatively, positioning an urn, statue, water feature or pagoda will also create interest, and can help you plan a theme for the garden.

Box Hedging

Box is a very easy to care for evergreen, and can be used in a variety of ways to create classical and formal features in the garden. Try planting box in attractive pots to position around a patio or decking area, or use box to design low level formal looking hedging, to contain other plants.

Paths

Laying a path or walkway is a very easy way of creating visual interest within a garden. The effect is to produce definition within a garden by making a clear division between soft planted areas or lawn, and draw our attention to other features by literally leading us there. A path can be edged with low maintenance lavender, for a romantic effect, or simply edged with lawn for a crisp and clean design. A path can be made from gravel, paving stone, brick, cobbles or even wood bark, but remember that weeds will sprout through any gaps and will need attention!

Artificial Grass

Artificial grass has moved a long way from the lurid plasticky stuff once used by greengrocers, and is now being embraced even by garden designers.  Realistic and natural looking, artificial turf can now barely be distinguished from the real thing. As the lawn is one of the most time consuming garden tasks of all, installing artificial grass will seriously cut down time spent on mowing, watering and looking after a lawn. Even better, it lasts for over five years, and will remain spruce looking despite heavy foot traffic, children and animals. It can be easily laid yourself or by an artificial grass company, and come in a variety of different piles for uses and effects.

Mulching

Weeds are the enemy of the time pressed gardener! Keep them down by covering areas of bare soil around plants with a mulch of wood chippings or landscape fabric. A mulch will also preserve any moisture in the soil, and so cut down the need for watering.

This article was written by Viviana Duvall, on behalf of Namgrass For more information about artificial turf, Viviana recommends that you visit http://www.namgrass.co.uk/